Oscar winner Emma Stone has divulged why she decided to go nude on film for the first time in 'The Favourite.'
The actress stars opposite Olivia Colman and Rachel Weisz in the movie. The period dramedy has already earned award nominations, as well as award wins, and widespread critical acclaim.
Stone plays the role of Abigail Mashan in 'The Favourite.' Her character becomes part of a love triangle between England’s Queen Anne (Colman) and Sarah Jennings Churchill (Weisz).
At one point during shooting, Stone decided to push her role to new limits by removing her clothing. The scene originally showed her character topless.
“I had the sheet up around me,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “And as we were shooting it and we did a few takes, I said, ‘Can I please just be [naked]?’ I think it’s going to give Sarah something to look at when she sees that I’m not just under the sheet covered up. Olivia was like, ‘No, don’t do it!’ Yorgos was like, ‘Are you sure that’s what you want to do?’ And I was like, ‘Absolutely.’ I chose to do it. I was like, this makes sense to me. It’s an absolute [Stone flips the bird] to Sarah.”
Because it was her decision, Stone found doing her first nude scene empowering. However, she was uncomfortable with the word ‘ct’ appearing so much in the script. She said: “I’ve been around Brits long enough the shock has worn off, but hearing the word ‘ct’ a bunch, I was like, ‘oh my God’. It’s the most offensive word.”
Her co-star Weisz added: “In England, we say it all the time. If I’m with another Brit, we’ll say, ‘So and so is being such a c**t’, and laugh. It’s an old English word. Shakespeare used it. Or maybe Chaucer.”
Coleman added: “you can hear their (Americans’) sphincter tighten when that word is uttered.” She continued: “But, as a woman, I’ve got one, so I’m allowed to say it. And it’s such a wonderful combination of consonants. It’s a fantastic word. I’m told in America not to use it, but that just makes me want to say it all the time.”
Yorgos Lantimos ('The Lobster', 'Killing of a Sacred Deer') directs 'The Favourite.' It lands in Irish cinemas on January 1st, 2019.
